Calcareous phytoplankton. Coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of Discosphaera tubifera. This small algal organism (coccolithophore) is surroun

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Calcareous phytoplankton. Coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of Discosphaera tubifera. This small algal organism (coccolithophore) is surrounded by a skeleton (coccosphere) of trumpet-shaped calcium carbonate plates (coccoliths). When the organism dies, the plates separate and sink to the ocean floor. Individual plates have been found in vast numbers and can make up the major component of a particular rock, such as the chalk of England. Specimen from the Alboran Sea, western Mediterranean.

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Size: 3343px × 2651px
Photo credit: © NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM, LONDON/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: alboran, alga, algae, algal, aquatic, background, black, calcareous, calcium, carbonate, coccolith, coccolithophorid, coccolithphore, coccoliths, coccosphere, coloured, discosphaera, endothecal, exothecal, false-colour, false-coloured, flagellate, marine, mediterranean, microbiological, microbiology, nature, phytoplankton, plankton, planktonic, sea, sem, skeleton, trumpet, trumpet-shaped, tubifera, unusual